Oxford to lead international consortium to unlock potential of programmable nucleic acid drugs

Programmable nucleic acid-based therapeutics have come of age at pace during the pandemic, with billions of doses of mRNA COVID vaccines being administered globally. Responding to the announcement,Professor Matthew Wood said: 'This major award gives an outstanding international consortium the opportunity to focus on key scientific challenges in safely and specifically delivering nucleic acid therapeutics to diseased tissues. Our vision is to accelerate development of this field and bring about a transformation in the use of nucleic acid drugs to benefit patients affected by a wide range of rare and common diseases.' Oxford researchers include Tom Brown, Professor of Nucleic Acid Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, and Matthew Wood’s group in the Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine (IDRM). A number of nucleic acid drugs have been approved by regulators in recent years.